1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable blower, and particularly to a portable blower having a vertical rotary shaft which is driven by an engine and provided at its lower end with a fan to blow or suck the dust such as fallen leaves on the ground by the blowing force or the sucking force of the fan.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a prior art portable blower, an engine cylinder is horizontally disposed, and, on both sides of the engine cylinder a carburetor and a muffler are arranged respectively. Due to this arrangement, a width of the blower is elongated to bother an operator. For instance, when the blower is hung from a shoulder of the operator by a shoulder belt, the blower will hit the waist or the thigh of the operator or hinder the handling of the blower.
An air filter is usually disposed at a suction mouth of a fan of the blower to prevent the dust from entering into the blower. In the blower of a type which cools its engine by using a part of air sucked by the fan to blow the dust, the engine tends to overheat if the air filter is clogged by the dust to reduce the airflow.
Whenever the blower is used for blowing the dust on the ground, a blower pipe shall be attached to the discharge mouth of blower, and the blower pipe shall be removed from the blower and stored every time after the blowing work is finished. This operation of assembling and disassembling of the blower pipe is bothersome in the prior art blower.
When the blower is used for sucking the dust on the ground, a dust collecting unit shall be attached to the blower. Since the dust collecting unit is relatively bulky and heavy, it is bothersome to handle the dust collecting unit in the prior art blower.
The portable blower may be used selectively for blowing the dust and for sucking the dst. Whenever the blowing operation and the sucking operation is changed, a blower pipe of the blower shall be changed from a discharge mouth to a suction mouth of the blower or vice versa. This changing operation is bothersome for an operator.
If an operator wants to blow and suck the dust on the ground simultaneously, the prior art does not provide a suitable blower which can perform conveniently the simultaneous blowing and sucking operation.
Further, the prior art portable blower is generally provided with projections which are used for hooking a shoulder band. When the shoulder band is not required, the projections tend to catch clothes of an operator of the blower to bother the operator.
In prior art portable blower, an air filter provided for a carburetor is generally attached to and removed from the carburetor in a direction of an airflow, i.e., a direction perpendicular to a plane of the air filter. If it is required in the portable blower to arrange the carburetor above a crankcase and arrange a grip handle over the carburetor, the space for inserting and removing the air filter for the carburetor is very limited to make it difficult to clean or replace the air filter.